In Victoria reports of family violence have jumped by more than 25 per cent in the last year. But the new crime statistics don't necessarily mean that domestic violence itself is on the increase. The increase is likely to be because of increased reporting of traditionally under reported crimes and those who have to deal with the problem say it's a positive step in the battle against a very old taboo. Police say the high incidence of family violence in Victoria is a significant problem.

After the tragic death of her cousin, supermodel Miranda Kerr openly talked about how depression in teens can be prevented so suicides will be a thing of the past. Kerr, who had a teenage cousin who took his own life recently, decided she needed something to do to avoid and be an advocate of suicide's prevention.

An elderly Sunshine Coast couple has died in a suspected suicide pact, reigniting debate on the Coast about legalising voluntary euthanasia. The man and woman, aged in their 90s, were discovered by a friend on Sunday morning in their Buderim home.

A new Australian website that allows shoppers to have a punt while snapping up bargains has drawn criticism from addiction experts. Wyngle.com.au is based on a new concept called ratio shopping that lets shoppers try their luck at purchasing an item for $1, otherwise they pay the advertised price. Wyngle founder Sebastian Langton said the concept added an element of excitement to shopping and was ''not really a form of gambling''.

Former NSW Labor Premier Bob Carr has warned that retaining the Victorian Charter of Human Rights could liken the state to the UK, where public servants are too scared to enforce the law in fear of being taken to court. Speaking at a meeting calling for the repeal of the charter yesterday, Mr Carr said British public servants were so afraid of breaching the European charter of human rights, they were scared into inaction.

Tony Abbott and Bronwyn Bishop have been accused by the Greens of “ignoring their constituents” after neither would say whether their people in electorates supported or opposed same-sex marriage. When asked about the issue, the Opposition Leader and member for Warringah stated his personal opposition to same-sex marriage. “My view has always been that marriage is between a man and a woman,” he said.

Couples who live together before they marry are 'significantly' more likely to end up divorced, says a report by a Christian think-tank. The study also discovered that more couples are cohabiting than ever before - with the average time living together before tying the knot doubling to three-and-a-half years in the past four decades. The Jubilee Centre, a social reform group with a Christian perspective, said that living together had become 'a more fragile state of relationship than ever before'.

In the 1990s, when a challenge was brought to the New Zealand Court of Appeal under their Bill of Rights Act by two women, contending that an interpretation of the Marriage Act discriminated against them impermissibly on the ground of their sexual orientation, by denying them access to marriage, I reacted adversely to the dissenting view of judge Ted Thomas.

Australians demonstrated genuine concern and compassion following the Japanese tsunami earlier this year. Yet now, with East Africa facing one of the worst famines to hit the world in decades, it seems that the most we can muster is a kind of collective shrug of shoulders as we reach to change the channel.

Hundreds of Christians this month protested the hitting of two church leaders at a police station in southern Bangladesh after a Christian reported a local ruling party activist had occupied his house.